The Ministry Denies Knowledge
by Platinumpanic
Summary: The Ministry Denies Knowledge of extra terrestrial life. When Draco is reassigned to work with Harry Potter on the mysterious X files, he'll have to learn how to work with Harry Potter of all people and to accept that maybe, there could be something out there. But maybe there's a larger game afoot? SLOW BURN VERY SLOW. Each chapter will be a new adventure. [X Files Crossover]


The Ministry of Magic denies the existence of extraterrestrial life. It is this "conspiracy", to which we have devoted our lives to uncover. Discrepancies are paradoxical and the only thing to trust is magic, when reasoning fails. Though the pitch is littered with skeptics, we still remain dedicated to the search; the fact is, however, much is unknown and there are obstacles at every turn. A larger scheme is at work, and maybe not those from other worlds, but someone amongst us.

The room was dark, filled with unease. A chilled tension that Malfoy couldn't help but feel in his skin, a sense of foreboding. Curtains drawn painfully shut, casting only menacing slits of light into the office. Silhouettes of assembly danced behind the desk, but only a red butt of light was seen as he was gestured to be seated in the only available chair.

As to which side was more apprehensive for the meeting remained to be seen. After the war the strain between relations had lessoned, but that Death Eater stigma still remained. The harsh lighting wasn't assisting the matter either, casting dark shadows and sharp flittering light about the space, highlighting the dark mark on his pale arm. He'd stopped hiding it at this point, what was the use? Everyone one knew what he'd done and trying to deny that would seem cowardly. No. Let them look.

A desk lamp adorned the cherry stained desk, the only concentrated source of light, making this meeting feel more as if an interrogation. Perhaps the Minister felt he'd be more comfortable if he didn't know who he was talking to, the intimidation tactic was definitely working however.

"So... Mr. Malfoy, how is it that you came to work for the Aurors? Your file mentioned that you've studied as a healer, but chose not to practice." Malfoy could discern the rumbling timbre of Kingsley Shacklebolt easily enough but could not recognize anyone else. Kingsley's passover for the Minister's position was nothing short of foul play─ still a huge shock to the wizarding community, a no name official had taken the position without much resistance and Kingsley was left in his position of Head Auror. Draco sighed, _so much for elections._

A man's hand emerged from within the darkness to reach for another cigarette. To defuse some of the rigidity of the room Malfoy laughed as he answered, pulling out a lighter he leaned forward in his chair, reaching across the table to light the man's fag.

"Would you want to be healed by a former Death Eater?

He was provided with mumbles and shrugs of shoulders, awkwardness deflection brought on by pointing out the hippogriff in the room. "Well, my parents still see it as an act of rebellion… but I saw the Ministry as a place to distinguish myself after the war."

"Yes, after the war." Pausing for quick cursory at his person as if he'd forgotten who Malfoy was or who his family is, giving him a once over that was meant to remind him of just how little he actually liked him. "How long have you worked here at the Ministry?"

"Only a year sir."

A man like Kingsley, though not completely unfamiliar to Draco, was still someone to be wary of. He, like everyone on the side of Potter, they still held grudges. Notified as he was to report to the Auror's office, he, assuming his termination was imminent, had cleaned out his desk that morning but the man still questioned him still for roughly thirty minutes. Bracing himself, he waited patiently, hoping to save face.

"Are you familiar with the Auror, Harry Potter?"

"Forgive me Director, but what kind of hell-bent question is that?"

* * *

Grumbling with disdain, Draco made his way down to the basement. Feeling lucky that he'd cleared out his desk that morning, the trip to the basement could be made immediately. Though relieved he wasn't sacked, he still was pissed about the new post. Just as he was finally comfortable with his old position, he was uprooted and slammed into a new one. Biting his lip, he rode the shaky lift down to a floor of drafty rooms, dusty shelves, and rusty hinges to a project he only viewed with skepticism, with a partner he despises!

Alright that wasn't true, it had been a long time since he viewed Potter with any such loathing. I mean, how could he? After the war Potter had spoken for him and his mother at their trials, returned his wand, and was just a generally well-rounded individual!

" _Just kidding you're right. I do hate him."_

Kicking open the old wooden door to what looks to be the only semi-warm room in the building, no doubt warming charms active, Malfoy shivered as the outside air met the new. Frowning, he had hoped to make that entrance a little more graceful, the noise probably alerting Potter and all of Britain.

Upon entering, pictures of glowing lights and what unmistakably and mistakenly looked like UFOs littered the walls like a new tacky wallpaper. Oh, if Dear Great Aunt Walburga could see him now, and she knew all about tacky wallpaper.

A shuffling noise brought his attention back to the contents of the room, causing him to zero in on the black headed figure nestled in the corner, nesting happily among Indian takeout containers. There were files upon files surrounding him, upon files piled, well everywhere. He supposed his first assignment was to organise all this shit.

"Sorry nobody down here except Britain's most unwanted."

Potter's voice carried across the room, leaping over the stacks of filing and empty containers to stride over to Draco in that arrogant way he had always hated. Extending his right hand to shake his. The irony was not lost on Draco.

"You're the one who's been assigned to the project?" Potter asked incredulously, appearing not to have seen Malfoy until now. There wasn't any outright hatred detected, but it could just be shock...

"Oh I get it." Draco said quietly. "You're running wild down here and they thought, _Oh!_ Who's the only person on earth to keep you in check? _Oh of course!_ I got reassigned not for my intelligence or work ethic, but because I'm the only one on earth that can piss you off!"

Potter's face changed from his previous expression to one of more wry determination. An eyebrow arched in a cheeky way, as if asking, ' _really'?_

"If that was the case they'd of hired Umbridge. Now close your mouth Malfoy, we've got work to do."

* * *

"Residential citizens have claimed to have seen trees moving around a neighborhood."

"Just some drunk Muggles in a forest." Draco remained dubious, he'd done a lot of soul searching in the months following the war and though his opinion of Muggles had changed drastically it cannot be denied that they are oblivious to many things.

"Yeah, but local citizens have been complaining about their trees moving about for months, with several different accounts."

"People don't just wake up with their ficus gone out of it's planter!"

"I don't know if that's exactly what's happening! But people go to bed and then the next morning their forest appears closer!"

Work with Potter had been a challenge so far. He apparently harbored no ill will towards Malfoy and his mother, but they did however have seven years of unresolved agitation, and the only practice communication they'd ever had was sarcasm, threats, and hexes. Together in a room till the work day was over was a taut tension trap, one pluck and soon there'd be blow reciprocation. But Potter would never let it go any further; however, always just turning and going back to his desk.

See the office was a wide room, with wide, beech desks scattered haphazardly with brown hardwood, dingy walls that harbored some resentment for its inhabitants, and a small brick fireplace. The room reeked of mildew and dust. Draco's desk was on the right and Potter's on the left with several others left unoccupied. When exchanging heated words, they'd meet in the middle and go at it, with Potter retreating to his desk every time. Sometimes Malfoy wished it would just go to blows, he was itching to fight Potter. Maybe it'd work off some of the tension.

Malfoy had cleaned the office; the filing all put together neatly arranged by colour, number of deaths, and date. There were benefits to being shoved into the basement; they had the whole floor to themselves and the dankness wasn't completely unbearable with a warming charm in place, and the quiet was nice, (until Potter started talking) the loud business of the regular Auror department had always been unnerving to Draco. When it was loud you couldn't hear the people lurking behind you. God. He was beginning to sound like Mad-Eye.

"Grab your coat Malfoy, let's go grab a bite. I'm starved."

"Potter, we have work to do. We have to comb through the case facts again as well as fact check these eye accounts with similar cases. We don't have time for takeout."

Looking offended and generally hurt Potter turned to look at Draco. "There is always time for takeout. Especially this Indian place around the corner."

Acquiescing, Malfoy grabbed his coat and off they flooed.

The diner like shop was dimly lit and honestly a little sketchy, but the food smelled amazing so Draco decided to drop the issue. With Potter's suggestion he settled on tikka masala, a rudimentary dish to some but as he was new to the Indian food scene and was not looking to burn a hole through his tongue, he took Potter's suggestion. They settled into a table by the door. Both had developed the habit during the war and it put their minds at ease if they could see everyone who came and went.

"Look, Malfoy. I know we've had our issues, but I was hoping we could put aside all that and work together on this. One of the reasons you got reassigned is because they're hoping we'll kill each other and no work will get done. We can't let them win."

Sighing, he Draco looked at Potter as he answered, "I thought you wanted to chase dark wizards and break up illegal potion rings and all that. Why'd they stick you in the basement?"

"Turns out I've been chasing dark wizards, or rather they'd been chasing me, all my life. It's not something I rather liked. It reminded me too much of the war."

Now that was something Draco could identify with. One of the reasons he wanted to be a healer was because of the war. Far too many people were hurt because of him.

"And this is all that different?"

Smiling down as he reread the stupid tree file he smirked, "Oh yeah."

* * *

"I don't know why we couldn't have disapparated Potter, or at least portkey." Malfoy said, his knuckles white clutching the armrest of the airplane and looking rather green.

"We have to Malfoy. We don't want to risk splinching plus it's across water, what if we'd miscalculated?" Looking down at his notes, Draco focused on breathing through his nose and staring out the window, desperately trying to not bung up.

"Oh and it's a Muggle village so please try and keep the wizard talk on the down low."

"If I must."

"Here, take sleepless draught. It'll knock you out until we get there."

Potter being correct, as Malfoy always detested, he was knocked out the entire plane ride, sleeping through the entire flight. Thanking his lucky stars he wasn't awake for anything, his newfound fear of flying getting the better of him. He always thought himself a rudy coward, his good mood from sleeping only slightly diminished by the fact and that he awoke with his head resisting on Potter's shoulder. He was kind enough not to mention the drooling, bless him

"Come on Malfoy. We have work to do."

* * *

The small village that was being investigated was a quaint Norwegian town with bustling shops and a very large forest of trees surrounding it. Firs and evergreens littered the hills behind Main Street, casting the little city into comforting shadows, usually. As the locals had told him, the trees had seemed to move closer throughout the years, but they didn't actually start noticing until the deaths started happening.

Doing a quick survey of the town Potter and Draco checked into a moderate Bed and Breakfast on the edge of the gaff, where they made plans to investigate the forest in the morning. With a curt "good night" they retired to their respective rooms.

For Draco, waking up in an unfamiliar place was frightening as he hadn't traveled outside London in a very long time. His nightmares did nothing but exacerbate this, a cold sheen of sweat covered his body, leaving him defenseless to the chill of morning. Accepting his glacial fate, he huffed himself out of bed and traipsed over to the toilet. Making quick work of his toilette, he dressed and when down to breakfast.

Arriving in the dining room for breakfast he spotted Potter already dressed and drinking his morning tea while reading a copy of the Daily Prophet.

"Won't Muggles be curious as to why you're reading a foreign newspaper? I thought we were trying to blend in." Draco whispered across the table to Potter.

"Low level disillusionment charm. A wizard could see through it but Muggles can't."

"Ah."

They sat in silence till a pretty redhead came by to take his breakfast order, stopping to refill Potter's mug. She left the pot on the table, reaching up to extract the pencil resting delicately on her left ear to write down coffee/egg/bacon. She then replaced the pencil and quickly pivoted away.

"That's odd, she was a lot friendlier when you weren't here."

"Oh it's my fault isn't it! Can't pick up girls with me around!"

Potter sent a pointed look in his direction which abruptly shut him up.

"I'm sorry." He mumbled. "It's just we've been getting' on, yeah? And I guess I just haven't taught myself not jump to conclusions." Sending a chagrined smile Potter's way, he looked guiltily away, missing the way Potter's expression softened.

"That's all right, I'm still not used to not wanting to punch you."

"Hey!"

"Well you were a right git at Hogwarts."

"Yeah, yeah."

When breakfast was finished the pair of them set out into the woods to tackle the tree problem. Thankfully, there was a neat little path towards the woods, and as Draco walked, he felt transported into one of his old wizarding fairy tales, you know the one about old Granny Red and the werewolf? Shaking his head at his childish notions, he made stock of his surroundings, taking note of where they were in case trouble came to pass.

The forest was situated atop some small, but steep cliffs, like an old woman sitting on a footstool that shadowed the mini city below. The trees looked thick and their trucks black like ash above them, threatening to swallow them whole.

"Let's see if we can get to the root of this, huh?"

"Harry middle name here Potter. Was that a fucking pun?"

"Yes. Just a try at humor. I promise it won't happen again."

Both still snickering at Potter's lackluster attempt to make Draco laugh. The pair almost missed something scurrying behind a large tree.

The entrance to the forest was a large opening in the shape of an oval, the only free space as the rest of the area was covered with black. The trucks of the trees were very close together,F but got more narrow at the top which allowed the sun ample space to enter through.

Feeling brave, Draco swaggered into the woods─ intent on solving this mystery when he stepped in a clear goo.

"Fuck."

Behind him Potter snorted in a laugh, doubling over in laughing at Malfoy's misfortune

"Don't laugh! Just help me get this goo off me!"

Sobering up enough to walk over to where Draco stood he still laughed softly. He reached down to inspect the substance Draco had stepped in. Resting his left hand of Draco's calf to steady himself, he scooped up some of the slime to inspect. The heat from Potter's hand was warming his entire body, despite the below freezing temperatures outside.

"Well I'm just stumped."

"If that was another tree pun. Potter I will leave right now."

"Fine with me." Potter turned and then walked deeper into the wood.

Panicked at being left alone, Draco hurried to catch up with him.

"Fancy meeting you here." Potter said sardonically

"Well I figured you'd need my help." Draco said haughtily while looking down his nose with eyes peeking at Potter to see if he was looking.

Pleased that he was, Draco asked what that goo could have been.

"You won't believe me if I tell you."

"Try me."

"I think it's a genetic hormone that's secreted by extra terrestrials."

"Really? Potter? You believe in that kind of stuff?"

Sighing Potter turned to look at him. "Yeah. What'd you think this was when you signed on?"

Walking in silence they continued into the forest until they came to a wide clearing where the only thing to see were giant ferns with leaves that looked much fuller and bigger than normal. That was the only thing that appeared amiss until the stench of rotting flesh reached their noses.

Pulling on gloves and a surgical mask, Draco strode over to where the stench was the strongest.

A figure, a man by the looks of it, lay face down in the clearing. He looked like he could have been mid run with his left leg caught in a weird angle as if he'd fallen. The man who looked about 40/45, was left in pieces as much of his body had been chewed through. The man's skeletal structure remained intact, but much of his skin as well as his muscles had been eaten.

"Potter. Please call the Muggle authorities."

* * *

After the Muggle police had been called and the body was taken to something called a 'morgue' Draco was allowed to perform an autopsy.

The first examination of spells had to be done quickly as this room was being electronically taped, at least that's what Potter had told him. With his wand in his sleeve, he worked diligently with detector spells, until he reached the limits with those, he sighed knowing he was going to have to do this the Muggle way.

Scalping the skull revealed little except the odd fact that there was no brain. Obviously the procedure hadn't been done beforehand so some other agent must be at work here. Did it dissolve? Could something have, _eaten_ it?

"Could something had entered through the ear?" Draco thought aloud.

Grabbing his octoscope, Draco switched on the little camera and peered inside the ear canal. Seeing nothing at first, the ear canal seemed clear until something triangular and pink caught his eye. Fingering his best tweezers, he gently extracted a pink mushroom spore which he placed gently into a glass vial.

"How's the autopsy going?" Potter asked as he entered the room.

"Good, take a look at this." Holding up the vial, Draco showed Potter the spore he just extracted from the dead man. Except instead of the spore, the only thing in the vial was a shriveled up carcass of what it had been, simply pink fluff.

"What…" he trailed off. "It was just a pink spore, like fungi or something."

"I believe you, but we're going to need something more concrete to go on. How about you cut up old John Doe over there and I'll go interview some of the locals."

Plans set, Draco returned to the task at hand.

Making a sharp line down the center of his chest, the man's internal organs and skeleton appeared to be perfectly normal, but at second glance, little tiny teeth marks could be seen against the bones.

* * *

Malfoy met Potter at a quaint little cafe to discuss their findings.

"Apparently the geezer we found name's Matty Fowler and he used to work up at the Botany Center on field research. He did a lot of work in genetic engineering and was apparently trying to discover new pest control tactics." Potter mentioned in between bites of his sub sandwich.

"Sounds like a fat lot of gibberish."

Pausing to take a sip of his too hot tea, Potter sat down his cup. "Basically he lived in the forest and was trying to get rid of dandelions."

"Ah, why didn't you just say so?" Draco knew perfectly well what Potter was going on about, but it was actually kinda adorable the faces he'd pull when Draco tried to fight with him. He's not adorable, Draco thought as he stubbornly tried to correct his thoughts.

Flushing a bit as he mentally berated himself, he hoped that Potter would mark his red colouring to the cold.

"Apparently it's the eighth murder this month." Potter supplied.

"I think we need to get into those woods and do some investigating." Draco suggested as he took a bite of his own sandwich.

"I agree. After lunch?"

A brisk walk up into the woods after lunch was certainly invigorating, the two companions reaching the entrance around three. They, deciding on returning to the clearing to gather clues about Mr. Fowler's death, set up camp near the outlying trees. When they reached the shallow where the body had been, the ground underneath was damp and flat. "There's nothing here." Draco wondered. "Certainly the scene of death would spark something!" Just as he turned to report back to Potter he saw a flash of pale pink hidden behind a fern. Kneeling down for further inspection, he saw a tiny little cluster of horklumps. His mother had always told him not to pick them up, they root too far into the ground, their tentacles spreading over miles, plus their black spines are poisonous and they like the taste of human flesh. His mother wasn't here now, however, and it wasn't like he wasn't being cautious, he _was_ wearing gloves.

"Do. Not. Move." Potter's voice sparked Draco's attention immediately. "Step carefully towards me and do not touch that."

Following Potter's orders Draco shuffled back towards Potter. "Are you alright? You didn't touch it right?" Potter's voice was frantic, grabbing Draco by the shoulders and squeezing. "I think I figured out what is going on here."

"By all means Potter, I am all ears."

"So I think the Horklumps are behind the murders."

"Could you elaborate more?" Draco stated disbelievingly.

"So what I'm guessing is our old mate Mr. Fowler thought these weird looking mushrooms were just some randy pests to eradicate and took one of these guys back to his lab where he'd inject them with a genetic hormone from an outside source to release back into the wild where they'd kill each other off by diffusion, but the exact opposite happened."

"So are you suggesting the botanist put alien DNA into a horklump and then expected them to die?" Draco was completely bewildered. It sounded like madness.

"Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying Draco."

"I don't know if I buy into this whole 'other worldly' stuff, but I can believe a Muggle mucking up something they don't understand."

Potter's face went slack, morphing into a defensive glare, which burned Draco with ire, "So still all blood purity with you then? I can't say I'm disappointed Malfoy. I thought you'd changed."

He had changed damn it! How could he believe in blood purity when one of the brightest witches of our age, and perhaps all time was a muggleborn?

"Just a faux pas! I haven't believed in blood purity for years now. My parents just brought me up that way! I didn't know any better." Potter looked soft now as he contemplated Draco's words, he opened his mouth to respond, but no words came out as he was struck dumb by the appearance of something probably large and altogether terrifying behind him. _Great_.

Whipping around he turned to face what he thought to be a Giant but was actually just more of those horklumps.

Wait. They've moved… Oh shit.

They were completely surrounded by these green looking horklumps, obviously mutant. Their mouths ravenous with drool leaking down their faces. It really couldn't be called a face, a mouth the only thing present, no eyes or nose to be seen. Their last meal had probably been that botanist however many days ago and was not going to let them escape.

The sun had almost completely gone down now, shooting rays of pink through the sky as it faded into black. It would have been very pretty if not for the fact that their lives were currently in danger. Draco had seen what they done to that poor man. Shuddering he turned again to look at Potter.

"We need a plan." Potter stated.

"Pssh. Obviously." Malfoy said with a pompous tone. "I think Gnomes like to eat these creatures, but do you know any in a five mile radius?"

It was completely dark now with only glow worms for light. One by one the horklumps became bioluminescent in the darkness, their teeth white and razor sharp. Their colors illuminating the forest in beautiful green, but the beauty would not last, the horklumps taking off at once in a bolt of light akin to the killing curse, which it might be if Potter and he didn't fucking move!

"Potter! Run!"

Dashing through the dense forest blind to any roots that may trip them, running for their lives they jumped, leaped, and sprinted. Fleeing from the carnivorous beasts they shot curse after curse behind them.

"Reducto!" No effect. Just got angrier

"Confringo!" Made the trees mad and the horklumps more persistent.

"Flipendo!" That one worked a little but was not a good long term solution.

One little one nipped the back of Draco's ankle, blistering it. Stepping on the stupid toadstool, he put on an extra burst of speed. How fast can a fucking mushroom run anyway?

Remembering too late that their saliva is a protein destroying enzyme, Malfoy's ankle was slowly dissolving making it very painful to run and slowing down was not an option unless he wanted to be eaten alive.

"It's James."

"Who the fuck is James? Running for my life here Harry!"

"My middle name! I just thought you should know if we're going to die!"

"Why the fuck would I care now!?"

Laughing Potter grabbed Draco and pulled him into a small opening in between two rocks, just making it time before an army of angry fungi rushed pass.

Panting and standing very close, the two hid from the hoard of mutated Horklumps stampeding very close by. Draco had to slouch in the crevice, his stature of 185 centimeters were suddenly very cramped. His neck lowered to be eye level with Potter.

While Potter was very attractive all broad shoulders and glinting green eyes it could never happen between them. Ever. But even so, being squished against a handsome bloke in what seemed like a broom closet, in a _very_ long dry spell was starting to become a 'big' issue.

"You called me Harry." Potter exhaled.

" _Shit. He caught that?"_

"That's your name isn't it?"

"Yeah, but you've never called me that before."

"Do you want me to call you Harry."

"Yeah." He said, their breath mingling together in the enclosed space.

This little meet and greet getting a little too close for comfort, Draco attempted to plan an escape route.

"Wait. I have an Idea!" Malfoy slowly edged out of his hiding place, not yet alerting the dismayed horklumps as to where their meals were hiding.

"Lumos Maximus!" He yelled washing the forest floor in dazzling blue light, which of course alerted every single horklump to his current position.

Staying calm and keeping hold of the spell he waited, "Poof." A horklump's spores went everywhere, hah! Victory, though the triumph was cut short as the animal's spores smell of bad cabbage.

Harry came over and cast the spell as well, projecting together strengthened the potency of the spell. With the entire forest bathed in light the ugly animals burst and were destroyed in puffs of bad smelling fluff. Harry and Draco kept their spells active until they were sure the last one was dead. There was no way in hell

"How'd you know they'd react like that?" Potter asked.

"Well it was more of a hunch really. After I tried to show you that one spore I found, but that turned to dust, when I opened Fowler's chest I found a few more that turned to dust immediately. I didn't know why at the time, but I do now."

"Nice one mate." Harry clapped him on the shoulder, but lingered as he stood there and smiled. "Wait, your ankle, it's bleeding."

"Can you do me a favor, stand back and cast 'consano'? The wand motion is just up and then a wish flick"

Harry stood still then cast, effectively healing the acid wound inflicted by the mushroom animal things, honestly his life sometimes.

"Thanks." Malfoy said, as he smiled a real actual smile.

* * *

"This is Draco Lucius Malfoy in regards to the Tree Case in Mandal, Norway. It is 2:32 P.M on Jan. 23 1999 and this is my report. It began when Harry James Potter and I arrived to investigate the happenings of the 'disappearance' and 'reappearance' of trees in the forest which encompasses the town. What at first seemed a little silly, became a very real predicament as a Muggle, Matty Fowler was found dead. I have provided pictures of his medical examination for your assistance, in addition to my oral report. His body was found to have been eaten by what we learned to be a very mutated case of Horklumps. How the mutation occurred is unknown, the cause most probable is that the Muggle, Matty Fowler had injected the creature, not knowing what it was, with an unknown, unidentifiable genetic DNA. His mission was to eradicate the pests from the area naturally, which we have taken care of."

He pressed the recorder and sighed, leaving out Harry's hypothesis on the genetic DNA was what was best. I can't lose my job over speculation, plus, there's probably a million different things it could have been. There will be more times to make it up to him; to really understand this UFO thing. Smirking to himself, he realized he wouldn't miss it for the world. Knowing that beyond a doubt, whatever twist and turns he'd face, he'd rely on magic and on Harry. And whatever's left would be taken in stride, nevertheless, the truth _is_ out there.


End file.
